Be Still

It's not that I'm totally into the Zen thing. I couldn't give you a definition of it, but I think so many Zen ideas that I've read tie into Gospel Matters and peaceful living.

This article on Being Still by Leo Babauta made me think about Being Still in lots of different areas - spiritual life, home life, personal thoughts... etc.

"Take a moment to think about how you spend your days ... Are you constantly rushing around? ...

"Is this how you want to spend your life?

"Then after a minute or two of doing that, contemplate your life, and how you’d like it to be. See your life with less movement, less doing, less rushing. See it with more stillness, more contemplation, more peace.

"Then be that vision."

Honestly I wonder if this stillness he's talking about is possible for mothers with kids at home. Stillness in moments - yes!... in abundance... no!

This week was a little bonkers at my home. It's not that we were rushing about trying to do a bazillion activities ... (of course, moms could rush about all day - all night - all day - all night and still not get all things done!), but we just didn't have much stillness at home.

See previous post about tv matters we've dealt with. This was one way I tried to eliminate noise and outside media in my home so that we could BE STILL. But it's seriously been a challenge. I try to do what I feel inspired to do as a mother and yet it's still so hard to make it happen without us all going crazy. (me included!!!)

My kids kept fighting this week. I'm not sure what's going on with them. Hannah and Abe have generally been peaceable with each other and can work through most things. But this week they were both determined to come out as being the only right and smartest conquerer.

Tonight it finally made me cry. I told the kids we could watch a Church movie about Jesus as a family and eat popcorn. While I made popcorn, I asked Hannah and Abe to tidy the playroom where we were going to watch the movie. For some reason Abe got mad and dumped out the toys Hannah had tidied. So, Abe was sent to his room for the night.

I so much wanted him to be part of our family activity so I talked with him about consequences, repenting, and always making good choices. We worked it out so eventually he could join us, but it just made me sad that we had to deal with it tonight.

Here we were trying to spend quality time together learning about Jesus, and my kids are fighting. Sigh... What to do?

I'm not sure if it's just a stage and they are both battling it at the same time... or if there is something adding stress to their life. Maybe it's their irritable mother. So... we're working on resolving the conflicts!!

Isn't it so pleasant when tots are agreeable and we have peace in our homes?!?! It makes such a huge difference when we all make efforts to be peacemakers... which helps our hearts feel STILL instead of in turmoil.

One thing I've loved that has helped my heart and mind BE STILL before bedtime is to read a conference talk. It has been a blessing in my life that always uplifts and edifies. I know I could take more moments each day to fill up my spiritual bucket and BE STILL through prayer or the scriptures or meditation.

Anyhoo... Being Still... something I think I'll always be working on, but I'll catch the moments of stillness and appreciate the blessing they are in my life right now.